UPS wants my opinion.

I'm not making this up.

Here is an exchange of messages after which I copied and pasted my blog posts into a reply.  I'll check the questionnaire and report here.


from: ups-service@mailnj.custhelp.com ups-service@mailnj.custhelp.com
reply-to: "ups-service@mailnj.custhelp.com"

date: Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:34 PM
subject: You are invited to provide feedback about your recent UPS e-mail experience.
signed-by: mailnj.custhelp.com

Thank you for emailing with UPS. Thinking about your UPS email support experience please provide your feedback so that we can continue to improve the service we provide our customers.

Simply click on the link below, or cut and paste the entire URL into your browser to access the survey:

https://ups6.custhelp.com/ci/documents/detail/...

Thank you in advance for your participation.
_________________________________________

Ken: As already documented on my blog, I spoke to a UPS HQ person in Atlanta who was too dense to understand.

Subject
General / General
Response (Maryann P.)	11/27/2012 09:08 AM
Dear Kenneth, Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the link you provided. I will be happy to research this issue further once I receive additional information. I apologize that I am unable to assist you at this time. Please contact us if you need any additional assistance. Mary Ann P. UPS Customer Service UPS now has a new app that lets you Track, Ship, Find Locations and obtain rate quotes directly from your smartphone. Go tomy.ups.com or visit ups.com to learn about Apple and BlackBerry device-specific applications.
CustomerBy Email	11/26/2012 04:38 PM
I clicked on the link in this email.  It works fine.  From the browser I sent the link to your email ID.  Try again. On Nov 26, 2012 1:29 PM, "customer.service@ups.com" <customer.service@ups.com> wrote:
Response (Maryann P.)	11/26/2012 01:29 PM
Dear Kenneth, Thank you for your e-mail. Unfortunately, I am unable to open the link you provided. Please provide further details of your concern or request and I will be happy to assist you further. I apologize for the problems you have experienced with UPS and for my delayed response to your e-mail. Please contact us if you need any additional assistance. Mary Ann P. UPS Customer Service UPS now has a new app that lets you Track, Ship, Find Locations and obtain rate quotes directly from your smartphone. Go tomy.ups.com or visit ups.com to learn about Apple and BlackBerry device-specific applications.

 

Google Play failed to process my June 28 order.

June 28, 2012 I thought I was one of the first to order the new Google tablet, the Nexus 7.  I thought I had ordered it directly from Google through its Play Store, which at the time seemed like a great alternative to Apple iTunes and Amazon.

https://play.google.com/store/devices?feature=corpus_selector

I should have been suspicious of an ordering web page with no way to contact the seller.

I received an e-mail message from my bank with a one dollar charge from Google, the kind of thing that I had seen before when ordering on the web.  The merchant is probing to determine if the payment info is legit.

I cannot find a confirmation e-mail message from Google.  What went wrong?  Beats me.

It's really hidden but I finally found a way to contact Google:

http://support.google.com/googleplay/

I sent the link to this post and info from my bank.  Let's what if anything Google does.

Amazon Kindle Fire sucks!

It's as proprietary as Apple's stuff.  It came with one month free Prime service, which includes borrowing books for free for the one month.

I had to call Amazon support to get my Roku box to work with Amazon.

I downloaded a free book and read about half.  Why didn't I finish?  Amazon removed the book from MY device in MY home!  How did I find out?  Read on.

I tried to order something on Amazon and was going to be charged for shipping, which is supposed to be  free for Prime service members (actually I learned that's only if Amazon actually does the shipping).  I stopped the order and asked Amazon some questions.  That's how I learned that my Prime service had been cancelled.  No e-mail follow-ups.  No reminders.  No final warning.  Zippo.

Amazon cancelled my Prime service, I guess after one month.  I received one e-mail message reminding me that my one month was coming due.  What company sends just one such message?  Only Amazon as far as I know.

I lost my book and my Roku setup.  Amazon was completely clueless about my outrage and did nothing to placate me.  It's two days before Christmas and I'm looking for a buyer.  Failing that I will see if someone has posted actual instructions on how to install Android 4.0 ice cream including WiFi.

I will not order anything from Amazon again with or without the Kindke Fire.

Amazon Kindle Fire

I pre-ordered the Amazon Kindle Fire today.  It should arrive in late November.  There don't appear to be any hands on reviews but most of the comments seem to miss the boat.


Most of the whining is about techie junk that precludes some anal jerk from carrying around all the books he stupidly paid for.  Just get me to the net!


I think the Amazon Kindle Fire during the Christmas season will beat the Apple iPad.  Here is why: a family of five can either buy two iPads or five Amazon Kindle Fire tablets.


PRICE!  It costs less than my new Motorola Droid Bionic smartphone.  All the stupid Android tablets cost as much as the least expensive iPad.

Droid Bionic: thank you Motorola and Verizon Wireless.

I ordered is as soon as it was available and it arrived the next day.  There was a problem with activation (Verizon Wireless had a disconnect between my account and its registry) but that was resolved fairly quickly.

Google Android OS brought my data onto the new smart phone immediately and has kept that data in sync with the google servers as it had done previously with the original Droid.  Why anyone would jerk around with the mess that Apple imposes on its sucker customers is beyond me.

I have not tried some of the enhancements yet, such as HD quality video, but the comparable functions to the original Droid work at least as well.

I like the fact that Motorola did not clutter it with a proprietary shell but left the native Android interface with which I was already familiar.  That was a factor that contributed to my buying the Bionic.

Great screen.  I like this device and will keep it.

How big a deal was Steve Jobs?

Not nearly as big as some media knuckleheads are saying immediately after Jobs retired for health reasons.


David Pogue mentions these products:
- iMac: What's its market share?
- iPod: Was it really that different from a Sony of my owny?
- iPhone: smartphone; so what?
- iPad: big iPhone without the phone.


Pogue also mentions these industries:
- music: I'll give you that one.
- TV: what?  Apple TV?  Is this a joke?
- movies: Pixar Animation - OK a little
- software: Safari?  
- cellphones: Did Jobs invent them?  I didn't think so.
- cloud computing: late, old fashioned and not free; so far only MobileMe; See Google Docs.


Jim Kramer said Jobs may have been the greatest industrialist in history.  Say What?  How about Bell or whomever you want to credit with inventing the telephone?  How about Henry Ford or your favorite fill in the blank for starting the auto industry?  Blah, blah, blah.


Jobs created hula hoops for people with too much disposable income who flattered themselves for making him filthy rich by overpaying in the extreme.


Plus, what process is at Apple Computers for continuing its recent success without Jobs instinct and his personal cult following?


Closed proprietary systems are dead.  Long live open systems.  Apple will sink on its next failure. Power to the people!  Down with the tyrants of industry ... like Jobs!

Verizon, Motorola, Google: please improve my mobility.

- Verizon workers are on strike.


- Google is buying Motorola Mobility.


- Can these three companies improve my personal mobile computing?


Verizon workers are striking primarily because Verizon appears to have blundered in spending gazillions of dollars on fiber optic infrastructure to millions of homes for its FIOS, which is not generating enough revenue to justify the capital investment.  Verizon Wireless is now subsidizing the Verizon land line business, rather than the other way around, and Verizon is seeking givebacks from its land line workers.  Verizon should have let the land line business wither away and migrated to wireless.


I hope Verizon gets this worked out.  I have Verizon FIOS at home for video and Internet and Verizon Wireless for voice service.


I have the original Motorola Droid running the Google Android OS.


Now that my brief and massively disappointing flirtation with Virgin Mobile crashed, I had started to again lament the disappointing aspects of good old Verizon Wireless:
- high monthly service charges
- unimaginative billing options
- unimaginative smart phones.


I have received e-mail messages from Sprint and ATT Wireless offering newer Motorola smart phones: Photon 4G and Atrix 4G.  My two year commitment to Verizon Wireless expires in November 2011 and I can upgrade now but there's no Motorola smart phone offered by Verizon Wireless that I want, just newer versions of the original Droids.


Maybe the Google acquisition of Motorola's smart phone division will help.  My initial reaction was to approve but the more I think about it I wonder how Google can leverage this into an advantage.  Tight integration between the Android OS and Motorola would be great but Google must at least pretend that it will keep Motorola at arms length so as not to alienate Google's other business partners such as HTC, LG and Samsung.  This arms length thing does not seem to work.  See Palm, Inc.  Or Microsoft with Office and Windows.


Tight integration between hardware and software is Apple's biggest advantage.  That and customers who are mesmerized into buying outrageously overpriced products that have made Apple more flush with cash than the federal government.  Instead of finally being outraged Apple customers just admire Apple all the more.  What saps.


Google won't take over Motorola smart phones until early 2012 so it's unlikely any big announcements will be made at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.


Argh!

Samsung Chromebook is often SLOW!

Speed is the primary benefit according to a video by google.

If my Samsung Chromebook has its lid down and I open it and click refresh in gmail it can take two minutes to finish "loading".  This happens often but is not the only time when my Samsung Chromebook is slow.

I have until July 14 to return the Samsung Chromebook.

The lack of speed and quirks with the Apple-like touch pad are issues.

Is there a home key or equivalent?

You think the Chromebook is expensive?

I just noticed that the new 11 inch MacBook Air starts at just $999.

And that's worth the price ... because it runs Apple apps that people don't need?  It's twice the price of my pre-ordered 12 inch Samsung Chromebook!  TWICE!!  What the heck?  How does Apple get away with this?

Chromebook v.iPad2

Pre order Toshiba THRiVE tablet: no thanks.  I just got an e-mail message encouraging this.  I had signed up to be notified.  Thank goodness the Chromebook pre order opportunity preceded this or I might have been tempted.

This device, like the Apple iPad, makes my point.  The wiseguy in of all places the New York Times who questioned why someone would buy a Chromebook for the same money as a low end laptop never wondered why someone would buy an iPad, or any tablet, for the same money as either.

Since I don't like Apple, I'll compare my soon to arrive Samsung Chromebook to the iPad2, 3G versions.

Chromebook                        iPad2
screen 12.1" (1280x800, non-gloss, 16:10 apect ratio)           9.7" (1024x768, LED-backlit glossy widescreen)

full 74 key keyboard yes        none, only on screen
stays upright yes                   only with flimsy magic cover
weight: 3.3                            1.33 pounds
battery: 8.5                            9 hours
chip Intel ATOM N570 1.66Ghz    1GHz dual-core
ports VGA out, 2 USB           one USB for charging
camera 1MP HD webcam           Back HD recording (720p); front VGA

Except for the extra two pounds but still light, and the camera thing, which could be added, why would I prefer a tablet over a Chromebook?  Especially since the Chromebook should integrate nicely with my google account and free google docs, which is the smart way to do cloud computing, not like that pathetic proprietary imitation that Apple announced a few days ago.

Chromebook: yes!

I pre-ordered the Samsung Series 5 3G version of the Chromebook today.  I've been waiting for the google OS for a while.

I've read the unimaginative and repetitive comments like:

So, what are you going to do without Internet?


No internet = brick

I cannot remember the last time I used my PC without the Internet.  Probably years.  And years since I used a PC program other than the browser and notepad (for copy and paste).  Oh, and Microsoft Security Essentials, which I won't miss.

In recent years I have created ALL my files using free google docs.  Programs run from the google servers and my files are stored on the google servers.  No backup issues.  No sync issues.  That Apple announcement the other day about its cloud service to sync among the many over-priced Apple products was pathetic: late, meaningless, old tech.

Yes, I could continue to do cloud computing with a "real" PC.  Why should  I?  Why continue to use a bloated OS with legacy issues up the wazoo.  Let's see how well google does it.

I'm sure about the cloud computing model.  I'm not sure about this particular implementation but I'm willing to try it. I hope much bigger PCs are introduced with Chrome OS. How about a 17 inch laptop or 21 inch one piece desktop?

I think this will catch on much more quickly than many pundits think.  They are comparing Chromebooks to laptops.  Try comparing Chromebooks to tablets, which sell for about the same as Chromebooks but are not as functional or practical.  Media types missed the boat on tablets and will miss another boat on Chromebooks.

Apple asked me for feedback on its tech support.

E-mail message from Apple:


We're very interested in getting your feedback regarding the last Advisor you spoke with, XXXXXX, on your recent call to Apple support. 


I clicked the link:


Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to bibz05.apple.com:8080


I did a copy and paste of the link into Chrome:


Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to bibz05.apple.com:8080


I did a copy and paste of the link into IE:


Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage


You cannot make up stuff like this.

Returned tablets: Motorola XOOM v. Apple iPad1. And the $600 Dell 17" laptop.

Yesterday I returned my Apple iPad1 to Apple.  A couple of weeks ago I returned my Motorola XOOM to Verizon Wireless.  It didn't help that Apple just reduced the cost of the iPad1 3G by $100 making it only $30 more than I paid for the WiFi only version.

Both the XOOM and iPad1 were fairly slow compared with my five year old Dell laptop running WindowsXP.  I found the tablets very limited when used for common PC type activities like bouncing among multiple browser tabs.  The iPad created cute images of recent web pages.  However, to get to the them as a group, not individually, I had to click a small icon in the Apple browser, Safari, and then click the individual  image.  Worse was that, the page had to be fetched again.  It was not stored in memory and that activity was unacceptably slow.  This quickly became tedious.

I never got the iPad to create e-mail accounts, even with extensive phone support from Apple.  Do mainstream reviewers like Pogue and Mossberg try this?  Do they try using multiple browser pages?

A basic common sense problem with a tablet is what do you do with your hands?  I found myself holding the tablet with my left and using my right to tap, scroll, etc.  This got old fast.  I never found a comfortable position.  I thought I was clever, especially during my longs phone conversations with Apple tech support, to prop up the iPad using an old metal book support.  Then the obvious occurred to me: a laptop has this built in.  It's called a keyboard, a nice physical keyboard, which also serves as a base.  The tablet makers did not even have the common sense to include a fold out kickstand as did HTC with it's new Thunderbolt smartphone.  Neither Pogue and Mossberg thought about this either.

I don't like tablets.  I'm now interested in a new 17 inch Dell laptop for $600.  OK, it's 7.14 pounds but compare that to the XOOM 3G at $600 and the original WiFi only iPad at $400 or the new WiFi only iPad2  at $500 or the new iPad2 3G at $600.  What the heck?  Are we nuts?  I'm going to use a WiFi only computer almost exclusively around my home, so what's the difference how much it weighs?  I'd much prefer a nice BIG 17 inch screen, including a keyboard base.  And that base also serves as a screen cover.  How clever.

That new line of Dell 17 inch laptops (17R) range from $600 for a more than acceptable e-mail/browser PC to $800 for a little more oomph.  Yes, Dell has more expensive multimedia type 17 inch laptops but I do everything on the web with free google products so I don't need that.  Juxtapose the Dell prices with the starting price of a 17 inch laptop from Apple: $2,500.

How does Apple have the nerve to over price by so much?  Apple charges what the market will bare.  Apple customers are suckers and there's one born every minute.

iPad: cannot edit free google online spreadsheet doc ...

This shocked me.  iPad was totally inadequate.

Plus, I noticed that those cute mini views of Safari interrations past are just that: past.  When I click on one the page appears to be re-loaded from scratch.  It's not held in memory.  For e-mail, which I did in the browser in part because I cannot create e-mail accounts that work with Apple's iPad software (see previous post), this results in VERY slow e-mail functionality.

iPad: cannot create e-mail accounts

Day two of having the original iPad I spent two hours trying to create e-mail accounts.  I tried two yahoo accounts and one gmail.  I tried what was suggested by Apple online, including powering down.  Every effort failed.

Day three I spoke to Apple tech support twice: 52 minutes in the morning, 71 minutes in the afternoon.  Total failure and a desperate suggestion that maybe my WiFi was the problem and maybe I should take my iPad into an Apple retail store to try Apple WiFi and have someone at the Apple genius bar try it.  I thought I had been talking to geniuses.  For home WiFi I use my five year old Verizon FIOS combination modem and wireless router, which has worked with everything I've tried, including two Windows laptops, a Skype WiFi phone and multiple hand held devices: Palm TX, Palm Treo (did it have WiFi?) and Motorola Droid.

To run salt into the wound Apple has apparently lowered the price for the original iPad 3G by $100.  It's now only $30 more than the WiFi only version that I bought.  What, Apple thought I wouldn't notice?

I hate Apple more than ever.

I bought the original Apple iPad WiFi only for $399 as a gift.

1. As with my one day experience with the iPod Touch, you need a Windows or Mac PC to which the iPad must be attached so that evil Apple can suck the life forces out of you through its insidious iTunes.  Why must I own a PC to get to the opening screen of a stand alone device?  I stared at iTunes for quite a while before stumbling onto the hidden entry point to register my iPad with the all seeing, all knowing Apple monster.

2. No documentation included, except a card telling me to download iTunes to the PC I should not need.  You must successfully get online first to access documentation.  Online I found the 23 meg user guide dated 11/22/2010, four months ago.  It's a dead 181 page pdf file, i.e., no internal links.  Couldn't Apple have loaded this onto the iPad?  I added it to the iPad home screen.

3. I registered my iPad with me.com to be able to find it if lost.  When I log in to me.com it says "Find My iPhone", not iPad, and "No Devices registered".

4. I tried two Yahoo accounts and both failed to register in the iPad.  Error message in short: IMAP server "apple.imap.mail.yahoo.com" not responding.  Check network connection and that you entered the correct information in the "Incoming Mail Server" field.  OK.  No, it's not OK.  There is no  "Incoming Mail Server" field.  When I click OK it takes me back to the original input screen where the only options are: cancel or next.  Next produces: "This account may not be able to send or receive emails.  Are you sure you want to save?"  Options: save or edit.

I tried gmail: "Cannot Connect Using SSL.  Do you want to try setting up the account without SSL?"  Yes or No.  Say what?  No results in back to the original input screen.  I get out and check the mail and contacts apps: nothing.  Delete.  Try again.  Click Yes this time for SSL.  Ah, now the IMAP server "imap.gmail.com" is not responding.  Check network connection and that you entered the correct information in the "Incoming Mail Server" field.  OK.

HELP!  I'm in Apple hell!

5. Browsing is SLOW.  Now I know why those jerks were so anxious to upgrade to the iPad2.

6. Last but not least: the ever popular Apple PROPRIETARY connector!  Yes, along with a set of steak knives, you need to buy Apple PROPRIETARY cables to connect ANYTHING, such as a camera, which Apple intentionally omitted so that it could get the eternally gullible to buy a new iPad after only one year.

If I had bought this for myself, it would already be on its way back to Apple, which didn't tell me that delivery time would be impacted by the fact that it was coming to New York from CHINA.  It took two days to leave Asia and get to Anchorage Alaska.  I wondered if UPS was sending it by boat.

I'll try to wait to see if the intended recipient likes it before returning, for which Apple, unlike Verizon with the Motorola XOOM, makes ZERO provision.  Apparently, it never occurred to Apple that anyone would ever want to return one of its products.  For me, iPad would make it three strikes and you're out, having already returned after one day each the iPhone and the aforementioned iPod Touch.

HTC Thunderbolt finally arrived. OK, now what? PRICE WAR!

I bought my Motorola Droid for $150 because it was more than two years since my last upgrade and Verizon must have been nervous that I'd churn to another service provider.  I was expecting the Thunderbolt to cost $200.  $250!  What the heck?

You always need more speed and power but $250!?

Waiting for Godot and Chromium OS.  A rare breach in security:

http://chromeossite.com/2011/02/21/acer-announces-dx241h-first-chrome-os-device/

And it's not a stinking netbook!  Yippie!  If you'll pardon the expression: Yahoo!  Acer is planning a 24 inch all-in-one Chromium OS desktop?  Alright.  Cost: €299.  Let's see, using my secret google decoder ring (http://www.google.com/ig) that's 299 EUR = 415.7326 USD.  $416.  Wow.  WOW!  Wait.  It's just the Chrome browser, not the Chrome OS?  Acer will work it out.

If Google's Chromium OS PCs and Google's Android tablets don't do better we may be overwhelmed by Apple junk.  Oh, the humanity!

I'm hoping that Asus, Acer, some company will have the sense to introduce an Android tablet that is half the price of the Apple iPad.  Yes, HALF!  That's the only way to break the Apple juggernaut.  PRICE WAR!  Let's go to the mattresses.  When Acer introduces that $416 24 inch all-in-one Chromium OS desktop the price war is on!

Intel chips and Windows v. Apple.

http://www.intel.com/core/m/smart/shop.htm#share-info-top

This is a pretty cool tool.  At least it gives an idea of what chip is old, which may account for a "bargain" from Dell, HP, etc.

Core i7 looks good.  I had never heard of it before this.  I did not know that quad had come and gone, following duo.  One day you don't read the papers ...

I compared 17" laptops.  Same processor and otherwise comparable:

Sony Viao $1,100
Apple starts at $2,500.

Yet another reason I hate Apple.

Ordered Motorola XOOM ... sort of.

I watched the David Pogue video again and realized that there's practically no chance that by waiting I would select any of these:

1. Apple iPad2
2. HP with its Palm OS, whatever it's called
3. Research in Motion's blackberry tablet thing.

So I ordered Motorola XOOM.  Verizon hasn't changed much from its total monopoly days.  It succeeds in spite of it's billing department.

I ordered online because the two Verizon retail I checked three days ago, which was two days after Verizon announced the XOOM, did not have the XOOM and provided only a vague sense as to when it might arrive, displaying minimal interest in having me buy from them.

I logged in to my Verizon account.  There was no way to order the damn thing.

Next I opened the Verizon promotional e-mail, which provided a link to buy it.  Fine but that was not associated with the fact that I had already logged in.  I went through the ordering process, which made it clear that even existing customers (it did not ask for identification as such) had to supply driver's license ID and social security number so that Verizon could do a credit check.  Verizon also assigned a new phone number even though I was ordering a computer, with no explanation about this stupidity.  I had gone through this when I ordered MiFi hot spot service about 18 months ago.

I received an e-mail message confirming my order but, again, giving no indication that Verizon realized that I was an existing customer.

I called Verizon because I could see trouble.  While waiting for some intelligent response by the Verizon human being I received a second e-mail message stating:


Unfortunately, we are unable to process your request for the following reason:


Our Credit Review Department has requested further information from you.

Say what?

Against my better judgement I called and was told that Verizon wanted to know if I wanted the new service to be in a new account or on my existing account.  You cannot make up stuff like this.

I told Verizon, yes, I want the new service on my existing account!  Geez!  All this agita could have been avoided with a website that functioned like it had been designed by people on THIS planet.

I also asked both Verizon people I spoke to the rhetorical question of whether Verizon had a discount plan for the many and varied Internet services that a customer could have.  No.  This after my having to explain the concept of bundled service discount.  The default reaction is for FIOS people to direct you to Wireless people and for Wireless people to direct you to FIOS people.  I have a bundled discount between FIOS and Wireless but I also want one for what will now be three Verizon Internet services (something I had been determined to avoid), maybe analogous to a family plan for voice service.  Note: Verizon does not have a family plan for data service among smart phones.

My three Verizon Internet services will now be:

1. FIOS at home
2. data plan for my Motorola Droid smart phone
3. data plan for my Motorola XOOM, which, despite being a computer, will have its own phone number so that the archaic Verizon computer systems can crawl through the information the manner of a monopoly.

Hot off the e-mail, one hour after I finished my conversation with the second Verizon person, the one who told me that I would receive the XOOM tomorrow:

Your order is currently in queue to be processed. In most cases orders are processed within 3 business days.

You can't make up stuff like this.

Motorola XOOM v. Apple iPad2

The Motorola XOOM (manufacturer spells it with caps) tablet from Verizon Wireless running the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) Operating System (OS) became available yesterday. Given that I had been waiting for this product it's strange that I have not yet pulled the trigger and bought the damn thing.

Most mainstream sources (NY Times, WSJ, ...) recommend waiting until March 2, only three days, for Apple's predatory announcement of its iPad2. It seems that the iPad2 announcement has been hurried to a strategically earlier date to impede XOOM sales.

These seem to be my reasons for hesitating:

1. Price.  $600 with a $20 per month two year contract with Verizon Wireless for one gig per month or $800.  Ouch!  That's no pressure for Apple to be more reasonable, which Apple would have no inclination to be anyway.

2. XOOM is currently only available in one configuration, 3G with a future software upgrade to 4G when that version of wireless network becomes available.  There is currently no WiFi only version.  I asked two friends who know this stuff better than I whether such a software upgrade made sense but did not get a direct answer: there's only a marketing of version of 4G and why would you need all that speed.  My thinking: I don't want a $600-$800 device to become obsolete in 12-18 months.

3. There will be plenty more Android tablets and the XOOM may not seem so hot in a few months.  Others may be less expensive and more polished;  XOOM currently lacks Flash video play, which is really odd given Apple's policy to never support Flash. I could live without an HD video camera and save that expense.  I just want to look up stuff.  A bare bones tablet for half the price would be compelling.  I don't actually need an iPad clone.

4. iPad2 is the 800 pound and $800 gorilla, the market leader and trend setter.  Maybe I should just succumb and buy from the evil Apple empire.

In the Westchester mall near my home are both an Apple store and a Verizon Wireless store.  Maybe I'll wait 3-4 days and see if I can try each and then delude myself into thinking that my decision was not largely emotional and go ahead and buy the XOOM in hopes that the enlightened google will reward me by smiting mighty Apple with its open architecture.

So when the heck will PCs with the google ChromeOS finally be available?  That product might preclude my consumer longing for the more expensive tablet.